Help Needed

Question
QUESTION: Hello Eddie,

I am a 5 handicap. The driver is by far my biggest weakness, not because of distance, but direction. My misses are always a pull into the trees or a slice into the trees. I never hook the ball. any advice.

ANSWER: Lorenzo:

Sure, you need to work on the path of your swing.  Picture a big, huge clock out there behind the target you are aiming at.  If you hit pulls and slices, you are swinging towards 10 o'clock.  If you happen to square up the clubface, the ball will go straight left.  If you happen to leave the face open, the ball will curve from left to right, causing a fade or slice which also puts backspin on the ball.  So, you must learn to change the path the club swings into the ball on.  So going back to the clock, you need to learn to swing towards 1 o'clock and also learn how to rotate or turn the clubface over so it can impart right to left spin on the ball.  If you can swing towards 1 o'clock, the ball would start out much straighter and if you can learn to square up the face better, it would then stay straighter.   So the path give the ball it's initial launch.  It will either go right, straight or left..........period.  In your case, you swing to much to the left.  Then, the clubface will tell the ball what to do once it gets out there.  If you square the face up to the left swingpath, your ball will go straight left.....a pull.  If the face remains open when you swing to the left, the ball will have left to right spin put on it, causing it to slice or curve back to the right.  Get the picture?  Change your path, start swinging towards 1 o'clock and learn to square up the face better (proper use of the hands).  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Eddie,

Thank you for the advice...Do you know why I only have this problem with my woods? My irons are pretty accurate.

Answer
Lorenzo:

Sure, because the woods have less loft than irons.  So if you miss hit a wood, it will impart more sidespin whereas the irons have more loft, so they impart more backspin.  More sidespin means shots curve more.  More loft they don't curve as much.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member